Top 25 Virtual Roundtable

December 21, 2020

Top 25 Virtual Roundtable

For the latest installment of our Virtual Roundtable, Nick Libretti sat down with six of the Manufacturers who each had one of their cigars in Nick and Greg’s Top 25 Cigars of 2020.

Attending the Virtual Roundtable was Alec and Bradley Rubin from Alec Bradley Cigars, Jon Huber, founder of Crowned Heads Cigars, Nick Melillo, founder of Foundation Cigars, Dion Giolito, founder of Illusione Cigars, and Matt Booth, founder of Room 101 cigars.

Each one of the manufacturers’ talks with Nick about their spot on our list. The gents also talk about the ups and downs of these “Cigar of the Year” or “Top 25” lists at the end of each year. Check out the video above to watch the full interview!

To check out the full Top 25 list, go here and let us know what you think!

Alec and Bradley Blind Faith

Landing Number Ten on our Top 25 List, we have the Alec and Bradley Blind Faith. Sons of the famous Alan Rubin, Alec, and Bradley Rubin created their first cigar together, Blind Faith, back in the summer of 2018. The Rubin Brothers knew they needed to step their game up to separate themselves from their famous father.

Following their first hitter, the Gatekeeper, Alec and Bradley wanted to prove to everyone, including themselves that they weren’t a one-hit-wonder. So once the Blind Faith was released to the world, the cigar industry absolutely loved it. There was no turning back for the Rubin Brothers. They were all in!

Cloaked in a stunning Honduran wrapper, with a Nicaraguan and Honduran binder, and a Nicaraguan Corojo 99 as well as Nicaraguan Criollo 98 filler tobaccos, the Blind Faith has delicious flavor notes of earth, pepper, roasted nuts, cocoa, with a spicy finish.

With four to six more projects under the way in 2021, we cannot be more thrilled to see what Alec and Bradley Rubin will come up with in the next twelve months.

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Crowned Heads Mil Dias

Crowned Heads has two spots on our Top 25 list! The Juarez at Number 17, and the newly released Mil Dias at Number 5.

In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, Crowned Heads still found the time to crank out a handful of amazing cigars in 2020.  The newest versions of the Mule Kick and Las Calaveras lines were some of the best cigars we smoked. However, there was just something special about the Crowned Heads Mil Dias that landed a spot in the Top 5 of our list.

With 1,000 days in the making, the Mil Dias was the second collaboration between Jon Huber of Crowned Heads and Tabacalera Pichardo. Yet, the tobaccos used in the Mil Dias was one of the first blends the factory gave to Jon when they first teamed up a few years ago.

With an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the Mil Dias provides flavor notes of pepper, earth, spice, and dark roast coffee.

We can only hope for more collaborations between Tabacalera Pichardo and Crowned Heads, especially if they turn out just as great as the Mil Dias.

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Foundation Tabernacle

This may be a little biased, but here at JR we always will leave a spot open for a cigar from Nick Melillo and Foundation Cigars. The Foundation Tabernacle, the companies sophomore release, came out in 2016. This smoke still holds up and people all through the industry love this cigar.

In our 2019 list, the Wise Man Maduro landed in our Top 5. This year, the Foundation Tabernacle landed the Number 4 spot!

Rolled at the AJ Fernandez factory, the Tabernacle has a combination of Honduran and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, while having a San Andres binder and cloaked in a dark, oily, delicious Broadleaf wrapper.

Flavor notes that flow through the Tabernacle is chocolate, nuts, espresso, and sweet spice.

Check out Nick Melillo’s thoughts on landing in our Top 5 back to back years in the video above!

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Illusione Epernay 10th Anniversary

Landing Number 3 on our Top 25 list, the Illusione Epernay 10th Anniversary slowly became one of our favorites throughout the years.

This year, we smoked and a handful of the Illusione Haut 10 and Illusione One-Off. But one smoke that was just off the chart remarkable, it was the Epernay 10th Anniversary that really won us over.

The original Epernay Series was released in 2009. So last year, Illusione founder Dion Giolito wanted to show the Epernay some love and released the 10th Anniversary last year in 2019.

This Nicaraguan Puro has a rich profile with delicious flavor notes such as dark spice, coffee, cream, cedar, and leather. With all of these amazing elements that make up the Illusione Epernay, you have a cigar eligible to be one of the greatest cigars of all time.

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Room 101 Big Payback

Our Number 1 Cigar of 2020 comes from the eccentric Matt “Boofy Baby” Booth, founder of Room 101 Cigars. While dominating the jewelry and tobacco industry at the same time, it’s obvious that Matt Booth is on another tier and level from everyone else.

The Big Payback Maduro is the smoke that landed the number one spot on our Top 25 list. From the jump, Nick and Greg couldn’t get enough of this smoke and that played a big part in landing its spot on our list.

Last year it was announced that Room 101 was bringing back a fan favorite, the Big Payback.  This new version is the Maduro and collaborated to make with General.

With a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and binder, with fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, the Big Payback has delicious flavor notes of chocolate, wood, espresso, and leather that delivers a smooth taste on your palate.

If you had asked Nick a year ago if a cigar that comes in a bundle would be the #1 cigar of the year, he would have told you to kick rocks, yet here we are.

 

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